ATTORNEY GENERAL LOPEZ NAMES KALIKO’ONALANI D. FERNANDES THE NEW SOLICITOR GENERAL OF HAWAI

News Release from Hawaii Attorney General, May 12, 2023

HONOLULU, HI – Attorney General Anne Lopez has announced that Kalikoʻonālani D. Fernandes will be the next Solicitor General for the State of Hawaiʻi.

The Solicitor General leads the Department of the Attorney General’s Appellate Division and has oversight authority over most state and federal appeals handled by the Department, including briefs filed on behalf of the State of Hawaiʻi in the United States Supreme Court, federal courts of appeal, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, and the Hawaiʻi Intermediate Court of Appeals.

Fernandes joined the Department in 2017 as a Deputy Solicitor General in the Appellate Division. Throughout her time at the Department, Fernandes has distinguished herself as a leading expert in the areas of reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, and as one of the State’s top litigators defending Hawaii’s gun laws against Second Amendment challenges.

As a Deputy Solicitor General, Fernandes has handled numerous complex cases in federal and state courts, including as the State’s lead attorney defending the Department of Health’s December 2021 emergency order mandating that the United States Navy defuel the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.

“I am honored to serve as the next Solicitor General for the State of Hawaiʻi,” says Fernandes. “I am deeply committed to the Department and the State of Hawaiʻi, and look forward to leading our outstanding Appellate team.”

“Kaliko is a brilliant attorney and has proven herself time and again to be a true public servant,” says Attorney General Lopez. “Kaliko has devoted her career to the cause of equal justice under the law, and she is universally respected in the Department for her wisdom, composure, and ability to inspire the best in everyone around her.”

Fernandes was born and raised in Hawaiʻi and is a graduate of Punahou School. Fernandes attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned a B.A. in history, summa cum laude, and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa national honors society. Fernandes earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, cum laude. 

Prior to joining the Department, Fernandes served as a law clerk to Judge Richard R. Clifton of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Susan Oki Mollway of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaiʻi. 

Fernandes will be the fifth Solicitor General of Hawaiʻi since the position was established in 2007. Fernandes will take over the post on June 1, 2023, and will succeed outgoing Solicitor General Kimberly Tsumoto Guidry, who was appointed to serve as an Associate Judge on the Hawaiʻi Intermediate Court of Appeals.